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by Mark Noble
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In the last fifteen years things have changed as people have very little worth for something that should be meaningful that would have been treasured in the past. This disaposable culture has made us as humans beings less human or dehumanised with big corporations controlling what the majority of people deem what is 'cool'. With this dictation of what is cool this dosen't allow the human mind to have as much creative stance as if nothing was preached from the big skyscrapers. People in the past like in my parents generation were trying to bring down the system and bring every one back down to one level in the form of protests and the creation of the counter culture in the late 60's . People were very happy to be able to live in their means and have a simple life and have relationships with other people without a secret agenda and being happy in their company and enjoy life . I see that nowadays modern people are trying make extreme riches and becoming greedy and the don't really care on what or how they want to do it. If it is sell their mother down the river for a porsche and a nice house or make a fool of themselves on national tv, They will do it ! People should be told that greed isn't going anywhere and if it was on a billboard in a big city would you think people would change? Some will, some won't it might make the people think more about there lifestyles and what should be done to correct themselves and being less sheep like, others would continue to sheep like and copying the thinkers. The reason that would happen would be due to the society that they want to be part of, is telling them think for themselves and by that stage some might not be able to think as they have been dictated on what to think This makes you wonder how humans mind states became to be like sheep and following all the new hip trends like it was the sheep's behaviour that it was beside it in a field. This is due to the mind numbing culture ruining process that is called globalisation. In 1977 Joe strummer of The Clash
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sang Im So Bored With The USA and this was a statement stating that he was bored of all the franchises sprouting up in Urban England at that time. It is now 2009 over 30 years later and you see McDonalds and Coca Cola and other franchises or brand names are available on all habitable continents even in the areas that can't afford them like undeveloped countries and gives the people in these areas wanting to be like what they would natural associate the style of a person in western sociality and they would give up their heritage just for a stupid bottle of soda and a Apple computer product which is the most pointless idea as the person's forefathers had fought and died to keep their heritage from people trying to force there way and mannerisms and way of thought if it was the british empire or the roman empire.. people should keep their heritage in the back of their minds and embrace modern ideas but not totally forget for what their elders had died for. So fellow sheep no matter which type you are, if you are capitalist that worships the all mighty dollar and is in love this modern western society or the person looking for happiness in fake plastic ideas, think for yourself, be happy, no matter what the protocol of your peers say and quit wondering in your pen!
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by Mark Quinn
We have a world of information. An abundance. Decide to find out how to tie a figure of eight knot, and there you’ll have it. What’s the coldest temperature in Antartica today, it’s minus 60. Or how do I go about making an origami rose, and the instructions will be there! Information though depends on the informer’s incentive, whatever it may be. One ever poignant form of information we see are advertisements. Billboards, posters, viral curiosities, digital campaigns, commercials – it is said the average city dweller sees 5,000 of these per day (New York Times Magazine). Yet what’s wrong with this? It helps people live their lives more conveniently or gain that little bit of luxury they deserved after a period of time at work to save money for the purchase. The buyer is happy, the seller will be happy with the profits. Everyone wins. But competition for information pushing is a vicious game. New and Innovative ways to inform the public about the product will continue to push the boundaries in years to come, such paths help to remind the Joe more of this product. Such paths create customer loyalty if the product gives Joe what they want and fulfils an unconscious craving or idea. Such paths ingrain and even perhaps condition. We use 5 percent of our brains consciously. The other 95 percent is there and (unconsciously) takes in streams of information at high speeds. Generally humans are sponges for the information made by other humans. Carl Jung coined the term collective unconscious – a part of the human mind that by all people are linked through the experiences of their ancestors. Watching One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest recently made me see humans as computer to a degree. Even fictional biological robots. Psychological defects in humans will disrupt their interactions in the ‘normal world’ relating to the severity of their defect. But what of the general public bio-robots with their collective unconscious?
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Society is something most of us adhere to. We don’t want to be alone and we crave others for many a reason. Nevertheless we all use the people in our lives for good or ill. It is simply, how the world works. Our societies are playgrounds for advertisers to entice us to buy this, that, and the other. They are in the game of taking our money for services and products. That is obvious. And there is nothing wrong with this when we need a product. But in a society in love with the feelings that media can bring, there is perhaps a bit too much of living a lie going around. And this isn’t bad either – it how we make sense of the world on an individual level. Who is to say we are wrong if it makes us feel good? But are we thinking for ourselves? Children and teenagers are prime targets for manipulation. Rather than following their own bliss their society tells them what is right. They are travelled down a heavily beaten track that yes by all means might suit some people, but maybe not them. Their thoughts not being their own still hold control over them, and they are called to by the beautiful songs of the advertising sirens. Slavery evolved? slavery with tact? But the irony to this all may be that the one who has the key to your shackles is you, the individual. We may only hold a small amount of unconsciousness, yet it is enough for us to decide for ourselves what we really want, what we really need and who we really are. The problem is getting the time alone to reflect on such thoughts. So stay around and decide your path. Will you be subjected to more father figured shadows telling you what to do or will you stand up for yourself, think for you and decide the right way to live your life? You are privileged to be here, don’t waste being a sheep. “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell
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by Christopher Scott
Something that design has maybe lost in recent times is it’s sense of purpose as designs becoming more and more meaningless. For example people are fascinated by the 'swoosh design' which is so frustrating as this communicates absolutely nothing but yet people are drawn to it like 'flies around shite'. Everybody must want to look the same and boring which I find very strange as I would have thought that companies would want to stand out from the crowd instead of following. Too many design companies are happy doing this type of design but this lazy approach will not benefit or make the world evolve. A more modern design issue is the technology. Anybody with Adobe Photoshop training think they are a designer. Design is more about training the brain to think differently. They should spend less time creating beautiful images of girls with swirls and bubbles. Instead they should think about some of issues that the world has at the moment and communicate imagery that actually means something to themselves personally. The importance of visual communication in todays society is vital. As more and more the world is becoming isolated which is because of technology. This is a downside to our fast developed modern world, before this advancement we played outside and actually interacted more as a human race. Where as now we stay inside and interact with computer's, television's and game system's. Even when we go outside we have portable technology such as Ipod's, PSP's and laptop's to distract ourselves from other human beings. One thing that designers should consider is they have the power to create visual communication, so they should use this wisely. This is more relevant as the human race does not communicate mouth to mouth so visual communicate in the 21st century is at the foreground which puts the pressure on visual designers to make their designs important. Rather than having a image that means nothing other than having it visually beautiful the design needs substance.
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A prime example of communication over beauty is the London 2012 Olympic logo. A lot of people say it was such a bad logo, that it was a disgrace to the Olympic tradition. But yet it has made so much money for the Olympics than any other logo, because of how much attention it got through its apparent bad design it got people to notice it. So in essence was it a bad design? In the 21st century the Olympic logo designer probably knew the logo didn’t have to be good looking or work well as a logo, but that it communicates a message or meaning to grab the people’s attention. In fact you could say that in this instance those two negatives make a positive. After all design is about the designer communicating a message and that he/she gets as many people as possible to take notice of it and to remember it. Maybe this is the way forward for future design.
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